Formation of the North American Lutheran Church (NALC)

The North American Lutheran Church has been established.

When the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) voted in August of 2009 to establish church ceremonies blessing homosexual marriage and to ordain non-celibate gays and lesbians, many Lutherans (including my wife and I) were upset. We had in effect been handed a unilateral divorce decree by the leadership of the ELCA. It is impossible to be faithful to the clear teachings of the Gospel against sexual immorality and remain in the ELCA.

But it was not just the ELCA's tragic decision of last August that prompted the formation of a new denomination. The NALC is a response to a wide variety of non-Christian practices and beliefs that are now the primary focus of the ELCA's leadership. As the ELCA drifted away from the God of Abraham in favor of a new god of secular political activism, there was a cry by Lutherans within the ELCA for a church that remained faithful. The NALC is an effort to be that church.

Please pray for the leadership of the NALC in their enormously difficult task. Please continue to pray for the repentance of the leadership of the ELCA, that they may come to reject their new false god of politics and rediscover the Gospel.

Disclaimer: my wife and I are presently attending a church that is associated with the Southern Baptists (how we ended up there is a long story). So in a sense we no longer have a dog in this fight. But any efforts by Christians to re-establish the supremacy of Scriptures in the face of falsehood needs our prayers and support.

News: Lutheran churches in Tanzania

Tanzanian Lutheran Churches continue to see growth.

"How long, O' Lord....

...will this blog go on?"

This blog was meant to be an on-line diary in which I could express my grief and frustration with the apostasy of the ELCA. It was also a chance to write about spiritual issues that I found important and/or interesting.

But it will not go on forever. Like any diary, it will never be finished, only abandoned.

It is my prayer that other Lutherans who are distressed over the ELCA's destructive course and who have stumbled upon this blog will find comfort in the knowledge that they are not alone.

So how long will this blog go on?

It is clear that (barring complete black disaster) the ELCA prefers to glory in its error rather than be ashamed and repent. I and many others could write and plead and nag and beg forever, but until the leadership of the ELCA starts to feel shame and remorse they will not listen. So using this blog as a kind of conscience to prod the ELCA is not an option.

The answer is this: I will blog until I am tired of it, or until I see that it is causing more harm than good.

Two notes:

1. I do not have comments on this blog, and probably never will. Part of this is because I do not have time to properly moderate comments, but also because I have seen other blogs overrun with comments like "Why do you hate gays and lesbians so much?" or "Hate is not a family value" or other passive-aggressive nonsense. Gays and lesbians are like adulterers, alcoholics (I am one), drug addicts, prostitutes, tax collectors, the rich, the poor, the old, the young, Republicans and Democrats, men and women - sinners in need of a Savior, not magistrates empowered by secular politics or popular culture to judge God and run His Church for Him.



2. I am experimenting with the design of this blog, and have not found one that I like yet. So if things change suddenly and without warning, do not be surprised.

Pray for the whole Body of Christ. Pray for the leadership of the ELCA, that they repent. Pray for faithful Christians who have chosen to remain in the ELCA. Pray for faithful Christians who have chosen to leave the ELCA. Pray for the efforts to form a new confessional Lutheran denomination that will serve as a refuge for Christians fleeing the apostasy of the ELCA and its obsession with secular politics.

The purpose of this blog

In its 2009 Churchwide Assembly in August the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted to allow the blessing of gay and lesbian unions. It also agreed to agreed to the ordination of non-celibate gays and lesbians. The ELCA's leadership has measured the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Moses, the God who led His people out of bondage in Egypt and into the Promised Land, the God who sent His Son to die for our sins - and have found Him wanting.

My wife and I are former ELCA missionaries. In creating its own private god according to political criteria, the ELCA has left no room for Bible-believing Christians such as ourselves. We cannot and will not bow the knee to this new god fashioned and worshiped by the ELCA. Against our will, but bound by the Scriptures, we have become Recovering Lutherans.

The purpose of this blog is not to rehash the issues debated during the Churchwide Assembly. For one thing, the argument in favor of Bible-based Lutheranism has been made elsewhere (see here and here). For another, the ELCA's leadership and the majority who voted for the changes in August have made it perfectly clear that they no longer accept the authority of the Scriptures. Although they profess Jesus as Lord with their lips, they have hardened their hearts against Him.

And where the ELCA would lead us we can no longer follow.

Therefore, the purpose of this blog is to recount our spiritual journey away from the ELCA - where I have been life-long member and my wife joined after we were married - and towards the future. Just what will happen and where we will end up we do not know, but we have chosen to follow where God is leading us.

One thing needs to be made clear. We have chosen to leave the ELCA rather than continue to fight from within. We believe that by its vote in August the ELCA has badly damaged the body of believers who are called Lutherans, and that by continuing to "duke it out" in congregational meetings and synod assemblies we will be providing the ELCA's leadership with what it needs so badly - credibility. We feel that to "agree to disagree" and remain in the ELCA would send a subtle yet strong signal to both Christians and non-Christians that it is o.k. to put the Word of God up for a vote, and that in the end log-rolling and vote-buying are acceptable.

To Lutherans who are reading this blog and who support the ELCA's actions, we urge you to reconsider and repent. Throughout history the Word of God has been laughed at, ridiculed, banned, burned, interpreted, re-interpreted, and re-re-interpreted. Yet it still remains. The Churchwide Assembly's actions will not lead to a new Gospel. On the contrary - it will hasten the decline of the ELCA. Ask the Episcopal Church if their decision to reject the Gospel has brought peace in their denomination.

To Lutherans who are reading this blog and who are horrified by the ELCA's lurch away from the Bible we want you to know that you are not alone. You may agree with us and chose to leave the ELCA, or you may disagree and believe that now is not the time to give up. Just remember that you will have our prayers.

To Christians from other denominations who are watching the growing problems of the ELCA brought on by this vote, we urge you to consider the strange fruits that "inclusiveness" have brought. "Diversity" has turned into divisiveness, which is what will always happen when the words of humans are substituted for the Word of God. Be careful of using the Church to pursue purely political goals (which is what the ELCA has done).